North Korea’s military leadership recently ordered all units to modernize their combat training record-keeping system by making records daily instead of monthly and placing a priority on filming drills and exercises over photographs.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in the North Korean military told Daily NK on Tuesday that these instructions were given to military units on Jan. 31.
Until last year, records of combat training in the North Korean military consisted mostly of photographic images. These records were generally updated once or twice a month at the battalion level and two to four times monthly for larger units. However, more records were added when something unusual happened.
This year, however, there will be a change in the way these records are handled in accordance with the instructions of the party committee of the Korean People’s Army (KPA). The General Political Bureau of the KPA and the General Staff Department emphasized in their recent order that the political department and the record-keeping staff of the operational department of military units should keep daily records of battalion combat training and other unit activities, with at least 80% of the records in video format.
This shift aims to have units leave a detailed record of the history and progress of combat training and political education in line with the development of modern warfare and to improve morale during training. The military leadership also said in its order that the video recordings should be made available at all times for the training of young recruits.
“The General Political Bureau ordered the staff of military units to focus not only on filming the unit’s history and progress but also on filming experimental techniques in various kinds of drills [including general subjects, specialties, target practice, marching, chemical warfare countermeasures, river crossing, formations, physical training and treatment of the wounded] to be viewed during the winter drills,” the source explained.
The idea is to use video footage of exercises in various fields, with the General Political Bureau focusing on the ideological indoctrination of troops and the General Staff Department focusing on various forms of education, training, and testing.
The plan to modernize the management of combat training records is seen as “a good way to share various training experiences among units and soldiers,” according to the source.
But the source said the move has also attracted considerable criticism. Changing the management of combat training records and unit records to mainly video footage would require the army to acquire a large number of video cameras and other equipment and recruit specialists. However, the General Political Bureau and the General Staff Department are too preoccupied with competing with each other to bother with practical planning, the source claimed.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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February 07, 2024 at 04:30AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)